iPhone Apps Lets Women Document Scuzzy Street Harassment

Sexual harassment is banned in workplaces and frowned upon by society, and yet ask any woman who walks or takes public transportation to the gym or the office and she'll tell you that it still happens every day on the street. And women can often feel helpless in the face of this scummy public behavior.

But now thanks to technology, women can have some measure of control when a creep verbally or physically catcalls or harasses them.

Ihollaback--the much-used website (with global franchises) which allows women to post stories and pictures of street harassment to "holla back" at their harassers-- has launched an iPhone app, created thanks to a flood of donations, which allows women to document when and where they experience harassment. As the New York Times reported this weekend, "The data is automatically mapped, and a follow-up e-mail from Hollaback asks for a more detailed account of what happened."

Hollaback's founders hope that this app, soon also available for the android, will both continue to fight back against the culture of street harassment and keep women aware of certain physical spots where harassment and irritation are commonplace-- and in more serious instances, provide data for law enforcement to use.

“Street harassment teaches us to be silent,” Emily May, the group's Executive Director told the Times. “It teaches us to walk on. That is the very last thing we want to be teaching women and girls.”